(My mom with her “retirement present” 2013 Mercedes-Benz GLK 350)
Mother’s Day is a day of honoring our mothers and motherly figures in our lives, and recognizing all they do or have done for us. I have no hesitation saying that my mom is the most influential person in my life. From the moment she found out she was going to become a mother, Mom has been my all-time greatest champion, supporting me at every mile. Our single parent-only child relationship is an ultimate bond, and of all my good friends, I’m happy to call my mom my best friend.
Since my interest in cars developed at a young age, my mom has put up with, encouraged, and even taken an active interest in my car obsession. I can’t think of a better day to honor her, and this being Curbside Classic, honoring her through the cars she has owned seems an appropriate choice.
(Not Mom’s actual car)
Like many Americans do, my mom obtained her license as a teenager, in her case in the early-1970s. Mom was the third of five children, and she neither was given nor bought her own car right away. Within a few years though, with her older siblings in college, and my mom about to begin, my grandfather purchased a Dodge Dart Swinger for his driving-aged children to share. Light blue with a black vinyl roof, the Swinger saw the most use by my mother, as she was commuting daily to Bridgewater State University, which was about 45 minutes away from where she lived in Milton, MA.
The year after graduating, my mom obtained her first teaching job as a long-term substitute at Collicot Elementary School in Milton, MA. She was hired as a 1st grade teacher the following year, and would continue to teach at various grade levels in the Milton Public School system for the next 36 years. Around this time, Mom purchased her first car of her own, a very gently-used orange Fiat 124 Sport Spider convertible from my family’s then next-door neighbors.
Although the official color was “Orient Yellow”, it was by all means an orange car, like the ad above. As it was a used car, let alone a Fiat, Mom put a good bit of money into it over the course of her ownership. Every time she talks about her Fiat, she never fails to joke that Fiat stands for “Fix It Again Tony”. Among cosmetic repairs, she replaced the original, well-worn cloth top with a vinyl one. A highly common malady of Fiats from this era was their proneness to rust, and Mom’s Spider was no exception.
Mom loved her Fiat, but after a couple of years of ownership and some more rusting, it was beginning to become too much of an investment. With a steady job and stable income, Mom decided to take the plunge and purchase her first brand new car. Massachusetts may not have had the import adoption rate of say, California, but by the early-Eighties, Japanese cars were ever prevalent on the East Coast.
The car she selected was a bronze-colored Datsun 200SX. Now I must say that these were quite sharp-looking cars. The alloy wheels look unusually good with the white walls. The notchback roofline was obviously the more conservative choice, but I prefer it to the fastback roofline that never quite meshed with the car’s angular styling. This was the only picture I was able to find of Mom’s actual Datsun, seen here parked outside of our house in Milton.
I’m not sure of the exact model year, and limited changes over its run make it hard to peg. Mom thinks it was an ’82, so I’ll go with that. Regardless, she has really fond memories of this car. She loved its modern (for the time) interior, and with its supportive tan velour seats, it’s one of the first cars she can recall that had adjustable lumbar support.
After about five years of pleasant new-car ownership, it was time for a replacement. For her next car, she stayed with Japanese, but for whatever reason chose to leave Datsun (now Nissan) and head over to Toyota. My mother usually bases her initial impression of a car on its styling, so it was likely the clean styling of the new Camry that brought her into a Toyota showroom.
While the Camry has never really been an exciting car, its image was less geriatric and vanilla a quarter-century ago. Retirees were still driving their big Oldsmobiles and Buicks, so a young-thirties working professional was within the car’s core demographic. Her first Camry, an ’87 or ’88 (again, she’s guesstimating the model year), was midnight blue with gray tweed interior. It was likely a DX model, as Mom doesn’t usually buy base model cars, but she recalls her second Camry, a gray 1991 being better-equipped.
(That’s my mom and my older cousin; I hadn’t arrived yet)
The Camry proved to be an experience of both reliable and pleasant ownership – so much that Mom traded it in for another Camry almost exactly like it. Her second Camry was of the same generation, a ’90 or ’91 model. This one was an ever exciting gray, and from this picture, it was likely another DX model, as LE’s had lace-spoke alloys. Although she’s light on specifics, my mom always says that her second Camry had a greater amount of equipment than the first. Once again, her experience with the second Camry was positive and uneventful – as are most tenures of Camry ownership.
In September of 1992, my mom received some exciting news which changed her life forever – she finally was going to have a baby. She gave birth to me on Wednesday, April 7, 1993 at 1:22 in the afternoon, and has devoted her life to me ever since.
Until the early ’90s, SUVs had largely been truck-based, heavily utilitarian vehicles. While it too may seem overly utilitarian today, at the time of its introduction, the 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee was easily the most car-like SUV on the market. With tough looks, all-weather capability, and many creature comforts, the Grand Cherokee offered enough to catch my mom’s attention.
Shortly after my first birthday, Mom said goodbye to sedans forever, trading the Camry in for a navy blue 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. For all intents and purposes, the ’94 Grand Cherokee was a great vehicle. It had loads of space, was great in the snow, and offered a high seating position and visibility that Mom came to prefer. Wide rear doors made it easy with my car seat, and the the waist-height trunk was great for my stroller and later, my bike
This was her first car which I have memories of, and I associate it with the happy, carefree times of my early childhood. During this time, Mom, my aunt Kathy, my grandparents and I all lived under the same roof. When we would all go somewhere together, the Jeep was usually the chariot of choice. I have fond memories bringing our Christmas tree home atop it every year, attached via the bungee cords Mom kept under the folding rear seat bottoms.
Mom really liked her Grand Cherokee, so it was an easy choice to buy another when the redesigned model came out in 1999. I’ve shared her less than pleasurable experience with that car before, but to briefly sum it up, the ’99 Grand Cherokee still possessed most of the characteristics Mom liked about the ’94. Unfortunately, its cheaper interior components, shoddy build quality, the nightmarish recurring issue of defective rotors, and endless dealings with the Chrysler service department effectively ended her relationship with Chrysler.
It was at this time that she started talking about the Jeep’s replacement. At the forefront of her interest were two car-based SUVs (“Crossover” was still a relatively unheard of term in 2003) – the Honda Pilot and Toyota Highlander. I was advocating for the Pilot, largely because of its third row seat – a novelty I had previously only seen on large SUVs such as the Expedition and Durango.
After looking at them both at the New England Auto Show in autumn 2003, mom was determined to get a Highlander. She liked its interior and styling better, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that as part of the 2004 model year refreshment a third row seat was added to the option list. Mom went to Boch Toyota the day after Christmas in 2003 to start the buying process. Usually a buyer of mid-range models, Mom was faced with a bit of a conundrum in that the only Highlanders in stock were base 4-cylinder models and fully-optioned Limiteds.
After test driving and fully examining both, Mom decided to spring for the Limited. At that point, it was the most expensive car she had ever purchased, and considering inflation, it’s still the most she’s ever paid for a new car (even more so than her Mercedes). The following day, her birthday coincidentally, she brought home her 2004 Millennium Silver over Stone Leather Toyota Highlander. With leather, heated seats, wood trim, six-disc CD changer, and rear-seat DVD, it was a truly exciting experience – I really felt that we were moving up in the world!
Flash forward to late-2009, and I had just obtained my driver’s license and was naturally excited about getting a car of my own. My mom had always told me she’d buy me my first car, which was I was especially grateful for, as my minimum-wage summer job cleaning dishes, tables, and toilets at Panera Bread wasn’t going to get me much. The original plan we discussed was for me to find an affordable, low-mileage used car.
However, the Highlander was finally paid off and now approaching six years. This was longer than Mom had ever kept a car, and she knew that she’d likely be thinking of a new car in the near future. The safe and trouble-free Highlander still had a lot of life left in it, and rather than having to deal with two car purchases and two separate car payments, she told me that instead, I’d be getting the Highlander and she’d be buying a new car for herself. The Highlander was, of course, much nicer than any used car I’d likely be getting, so I had no objections.
I really don’t remember how I ever convinced my mom to start thinking about BMWs, but somehow it just happened. By now a well-seasoned SUV/CUV buyer, Mom had her heart set on the X3. Knowing that a brand new BMW was out of her price range, Mom began adjusting to the idea of buying certified pre-owned – her first used car since the Fiat.
We shared the Highlander for a few months, before Mom was fully ready to commit to buying her next car. On a Saturday morning in March 2010, we made the trek up to the swanky new Herb Chamber’s BMW of Sudbury to look at X3s. When we arrived, there was an ’07 Platinum Bronze Metallic certified pre-owned X3 parked right out front that immediately caught my mom’s eye.
After test-driving the X3, Mom was certain that it was the car she wanted. A quick look through their certified pre-owned inventory, and Mom decided the 2007 Platinum Bronze Metallic X3 was going to be her next car. She started the buying process then, but it wasn’t until the next week that everything commenced and she finally took delivery of her very first Bimmer.
If I had thought the Highlander was a huge step up, than the X3 might as well have been a Rolls Royce. At last, my childhood dream of my mom owning a BMW had come true! The X3 was truly a spectacular machine, and apart from some odd peeling trim around the steering wheel audio controls (enlarge picture to see), there was no evidence that this was a used car.
At least in terms of non-supercars there really is no car that handles quite like a BMW. The X3 was heavily-derived from the 3-Series, and the relationship was immediately noticeable once behind the wheel. Power was effectively delivered, shifts were quick, steering was precise, suspension was firm, and the 3.0L I6 gave out a pleasant no-nonsense roar. Being rear-wheel biased, you could literally feel the power from the wide, Pirelli-wrapped rear wheels pushing the car along like no other car I’ve ever driven. I naturally drove the Bimmer whenever I had the opportunity, but the important thing was that my mom loved that car just as much as I did.
When she purchased the car, the original factory warranty was still good for another year, upon which the 2-year certified pre-owned warranty kicked in. Over the course of her ownership, Mom only had two problems with it, both of which were repaired under warranty. The first was in the summer of 2010, when it was having issues with the HVAC not working properly on the passenger’s side.
Right before Christmas in 2012, the Bimmer was rear-ended by a teenager in a Maxima, causing damage to the rear bumper. After the damage was repaired, we began to notice an abnormal noise and vibration from the rear of the car. The damage had obviously extended further underneath than the body shop realized, and it ended up being some exhaust system component that was damaged in the accident. It took two trips back to BMW to correctly fix the problem, and even though the warranty had expired by the time it was corrected, BMW Gallery of Norwell didn’t charge her because they had not solved the problem the first time.
It was around this time that Mom began thinking of getting a new car. Although she had only owned it for three years, it was now a six year-old car nearing 100,000 miles with no warranty left. Additionally, Mom wanted to drive a “new” car again. Whatever elevation in status the Bimmer was, Mom could never become truly comfortable with the fact that it was a used car, and having been a buyer of new cars for thirty years, she always felt like she had compromised.
She would also be receiving a pretty nice check soon from the Town of Milton for all of her hundreds of unused sick days through her 36.5 years of teaching (the result of the teacher’s union forgoing an annual raise sometime back in the ’80s) that would go towards the down-payment of her “retirement gift” to herself.
(The last picture of Mom and her Bimmer, walking into the dealer to sign the paperwork)
Her short list included a new X3, as well as its German competitors, the Audi Q5 and Mercedes GLK. Having driven the second generation X3 several times as a loaner, she liked its improvements, but wasn’t in love with it enough to not consider alternatives. She expressed favoritism to the GLK, particularly for its more distinctive styling, but its base price was a few grand higher. In her own words, “it will all come down to what the monthly payments will be”.
(Mom’s new Mercedes on the day she took delivery)
With this all in mind, we decided to look at the Mercedes first. Although it wasn’t the closest M-B dealer to us, Mom was happy with Herb Chamber’s level of service, so we drove over an hour away to Herb Chamber’s Mercedes-Benz of Natick to test-drive and inquire about the GLK. Once there we placed with one of the most down-to-earth and honest car salesman, John Angelo, a man who ironically reminded us both of Joe Pesci. We took a test-drive, looked at the car a bit, and then got down to business.
I came armed with print-outs from TrueCar (a very good tool I might add) of what GLKs with similar MSRPs were actually selling for in the area. Without hesitation John said they would of course match whatever prices I had found. When it came to color, Mom was adamant about not getting white, black, or silver, the most commonly seen Mercedes colors. She initially liked Lunar Blue, but after seeing the Steel Gray showroom floor model, she set her heart on that shade. It’s actually a pretty shade and despite its name, there’s a lot of blue in it.
M-B of Natick didn’t have any Steel Gray GLK 350s equipped similar to what Mom wanted in inventory, but was able to locate one for her in Pennsylvania that could be shipped up in several days. In one of the most pleasant car buying experiences Mom had ever had, we were able to negotiate a considerable amount off the MSRP. Mom was certainly happy about that, and I got quite a rush from negotiating.
It’s been almost two years since Mom bought her Mercedes and she is still loving it. While it’s true that Mercedes’ of today may not quite be as special and exclusive as they were when my mom first started driving, there’s still a noticeable higher feel of quality, precision, and solidity in their construction and engineering over most other cars I’ve driven.
Despite being retired, between daily errands, the two gyms she goes to, and frequent substitute teaching, Mom does a lot of driving, accumulating about 18,000 miles per year. Having a car that was both comfortable and fun-to-drive was a priority, and the GLK 350 certainly delivers. Where the X3 had hard seat bottoms and a super firm suspension that was often punishing, the GLK has soft, supportive thrones and a softer-tuned suspension that’s better suited for long rides and Massachusetts’ pothole-laden roads and highways. The BMW may have been a bit more fun to drive for me, but in the real world, the Benz is much easier to live with.
I’m glad Mom timed her new car purchase in 2013, because the 2013 GLKs received a host of updates over the 2012 model. The exterior received a thorough facelift, with a sleeker front end, chrome skid plates, full-LED taillights, and new wheels for an overall less cluttered appearance.
Inside, plenty of more changes occurred for 2013. The GLK was treated to an entirely new instrument panel that included a new gauge cluster, steering wheel, switchgear, radio and HVAC controls, and full-color display screen. The most dramatic changes were new aircraft-inspired vents from the SL and a beautiful piece of burl elm veneer, reportedly the largest single piece ever used on a Mercedes.
In addition to its numerous standard features, Mom’s car is equipped with the Premium Package (panoramic moonroof, power liftgate, driver’s memory seat with power lumbar, power steering column, iPod/mp3 media interface, auto dimming mirrors, universal garage door opener), 4Matic all-wheel drive, heated seats, and the Becker Map Pilot navigation (a more basic navigation system as opposed to the one included with the Multimedia Package).
The only concession she had to make was not getting real leather, as the only three GLKs for sale with the Leather Package were in California and over budget. Like most smaller Mercedes (that are predominately leased), MB-Tex is far more common as it’s cheaper to produce and it holds up far better. On paper fake leather in a Mercedes sounds unacceptable, but Mercedes basically pioneered the “imitation synthetic leather” decades ago, and as a result, has perfected a very convincing product that’s nicer than many “real” leathers out there. It even had me fooled the first time. We appropriately have dubbed it “Vegan Leather”.
(Mom checking out a 1932 Auburn Boattail Speedster)
When I ask my mom which of her cars has been her favorite, she always replies that she liked them all or else she wouldn’t have bought any of them. She then usually adds, “but I do really like my Mercedes”. In her forty-something years of driving, Mom has driven cars of many body styles and from multiple continents, each of which have well-suited her at various stages of life. The Mercedes is here to stay for at least a few more years, but like her only son, my mom is always thinking of what her next car will be.
I hope you’ve enjoyed a tour through time of every vehicle my mom has owned in her lengthy driving career. It goes to show you that moms can like cars too! Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there, wherever they may be.
Related Reading:
Mom’s 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee
That’s a nice move upscale with the two Germans at the end, although (since I’m from Toledo, OH) I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Jeeps.
Excellent article, Brendan! Your mom has good taste in cars, too. I really like the GLK; Mercedes’ mid-noughties, angular design language really appealed to me (E, C) but I also love their new design language (C, S). This face lifted GLK bridges the gap better than the revised E did; I really dislike how it looks. I must say I prefer new Mercedes interiors, though: the GLK’s dash looks high quality and mostly desirable, I just don’t like the fiddly switchgear. And speaking of angular designs I love, those 200SXs are beautiful and one of the few instances where I prefer the notchback over the fastback.
Thanks William! Believe me when I say the interior is very high quality. Compared to this, we found the X3’s interior very cheap looking and feeling, which was a huge consideration. Mercedes’ odd column-mounted shifter does take some getting used to. When the two of us switch between our cars, we always reach for the wrong place to shift – in my car, that means Mom turning the windshield wipers on when wanting to put it in drive 🙂 Also, I guess small M-B buyers luck out in this, but the radio and HVAC controls are the same used in most of the big Benzes.
Good story, Brendan. I certainly enjoyed reading it. May your mother be with you for many, many years to come. In good health.
Both my parents are 72 now. Mom always drove practical little hatchbacks: Simca 1100, Ford Fiesta 1100S, Ford Fiesta 1300S, Ford Ka, Suzuki Alto, Toyota Aygo and now a Toyota iQ (with the turning circle of a wheel barrow). All manuals, except the Aygo. That one had a semi-automatic transmission, which she never liked.
Dad drove pretty much anything with a combustion engine. From a Sparta moped to a 110,000 lbs Scania 143 with a hammering V8. Including farm tractors, fork lifts and all kinds of military vehicles. Now he’s retired he enjoys his MC (Multicycle) E-Bike.
Of all the cars Brendan’s mother had, I like her current one the most. A powerful V6, luxurious, good colors (inside and out), perfect size. The GLK is rare here, as rare as the G- and GL-class. People who want a Benz SUV obviously prefer the ML-series.
One of my clients has a GLK though. A silver 320 CDI (a V6 turbo diesel) with a 7-speed automatic and huge rims. He’s a single man, way into his seventies. He invited me to have a ride, after he just took delivery of it. So we rolled down a narrow back road, with the powerful diesel at idle speed. And then, completely out of the blue, he put the pedal to the metal. And there he sat…with his grinning face…accelerating right up to 100 mph, still on that narrow back road.
Thank you Johannes! The same to your mother!
We like the GLK a lot, and one thing I really am glad is that it is actually still built in Germany. All other Mercedes SUVs except for the G-Class and GLK are built in Alabama now. Not a huge deal breaker all other things considered, but it just feels more special to have a Mercedes built in its home country.
Last summer Mercedes-Benz of Natick provided my mom with a white ML 350 as a courtesy vehicle when they came to pick her car up for its oil change and service (a nice M-B ownership perk). Now that was a really nice car too though! The added ride height and size gave it a brutish quality. It guzzled gas like an alcoholic at a bar though.
Almost all MLs have the 350 CDI engine here. For a SUV in that segment a diesel is the most common choice, regardless the brand.
my mom’s rides:
1960 ford falcon
1958 mercury full size
1960s chrysler full size
1970s LTD wagon
1970s LTD sedan
1988ish T-bird
2000ish Taurus
2009 focus sedan
Not a single one brand new and all were obtained as high mileage cars except the last two which were low mileage used cars.
She never drove enough to ever wear out a car by mileage. They all fell apart cosmetically, on the outside and the interiors. Drivetrains were all still good when she moved on to the next vehicle.
Happy Mother’s Day, Brendan’s Mom. Your son sure can write about cars, must be something in his upbringing.
Nice rides! My mom *is* a base-model buyer although her last two – wait, three – have been midline versions they’ve cut her a deal on.
1952 Chevy
1959 Rambler Classic
1979 GMC Sierra
1986 Plymouth Horizon
1995 Plymouth Neon
2005 Kia Rio
She stopped driving from sometime before I was born until I was 7 or 8 due to a cataract robbing her of depth perception; a new generation of surgery in the early ’80s put her back behind the wheel of Dad’s truck. The Kia still has well under 50,000 miles.
What an interesting read. Sometimes on this site we decry loosening finance terms as part of the downgrading of luxury brands, as Paul did when talking a while back about going from 36 month to 48 month financing on the his original cc the 72 deville.
Your mother allows us to see it from the other side. Between leasing and CPO deals, a modestly paid public school teacher gets to enjoy a taste of luxury through her X3 and GLK350 and the luxury brands get a much wider market. As long as the maker is able to keep quality up and the buyer can keep up with the payments, everybody seems to win. Well perhaps not Toyota or Chevrolet who must see it as a shrinking of their natural market. Thanks for the write up.
I wouldn’t say that I “decried” the trend to longer term loans. It was just one of the many things that happened over the decades which influenced the market, quite substantially. And I certainly don’t decry the lower interest rates, having paid 14% loan rates in the 80s.
Yes, the market has shifted over the decades, and with cars being better built and lasting longer, their residual values and financing options have opened up opportunities that once just weren’t common.
On the other hand, my public school violin teacher in Iowa City in the early 60s drove a Porsche 356 cabrio. But she didn’t have any kids, and had a partner who also was a music teacher, so their modest income went further than the average public school teacher of the times.
Mom’s first car was a brand new ’63 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500 fastback that her dad bought her for her senior year of high school. My grandfather was far from wealthy, (a construction laborer who raised a few mink on the side) but he certainly doted upon his only child. It was black with a red interior, 352 and an automatic.
Mom and Dad were married in 1966. The Galaxie was replaced by a ’67 LTD coupe, followed by a ’72 LTD coupe. Her last car (which would eventually become my first car) was a ’78 Malibu Classic coupe.
Her driving suddenly came to an end one afternoon in early 1984. She had come to pick me up from school and while waiting out front for me to come out she had lost much of the movement in her legs. I called a neighbor to come and get us and we got her to the hospital as soon as Dad came home from work. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Mom died of breast cancer in 1999. To the very end she always thought 4-door cars were ugly and it’s why we never had one.
Nice article. Our moms started off on the same page–mine first drove my grandmother’s Dodge Coronet in the early 70s, but mine stuck with smaller Japanese cars after she returned to the U.S. in 1980. She didn’t have her own car until after I was born, sharing the Chevette with my dad who had a state car, then moving on to a new ’88 Hyundai Excel GL hatch which was stolen, recovered, and didn’t last 100K miles, ’91 Honda Civic DX hatch which she loved, and, faced with persistent complaints about the lack of four doors, a ’98 Toyota Camry CE which she called the “white whale”. Ever the penny pincher, she bought these as minimally optioned as possible (even the Camry had stick and she would have bought one with crank windows and no a/c if she could’ve found it). In 2005 she finally bought a new Prius that was fairly well-optioned. It’s got 120K and she’s still driving it.
Thanks for this sweet inside look into your family life and your wonderful mom. She should be very proud of you, as you’re obviously a hard-working and talented young man. And she deserves her nice cars. I rather like the GLK myself; it’s the most appealing (design-wise) of the whole genre.
Thanks Paul!
The GLK’s exterior styling was probably the biggest influencer in terms of my mom initially considering the car, and it’s among one of her favorite talking points about the vehicle. Its sharp lines and boxy shape certainly stand out and a field of mostly round looking small CUVs.
Its also a great road trip car. Engaging to drive, yet very comfortable on long highway journeys. You don’t feel like you’re making a compromise either way. We took it down to New York City right before Christmas, and even today we made a three-hour round trip to Foxwoods in Connecticut and back – Mom wanted to play the slots for Mother’s Day.
The cars my mother owned are
1976 Chevy Monte Carlo (350 2bbl/automatic)
1980 Chevy Chevette (automatic)
1983 Pontiac J2000 (automatic, worst car she’s ever owned)
1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera (V6/automatic, best car she’s ever owned)
2002 Ford Taurus (Vulcan V6/automatic)
Very nice write-up, Brendan! You’ve mentioned many of these before in passing but some were new and all were interesting along with the backstory.
Her 200SX is either an ’80 or ’81 – 1982 got the chrome removed from the bumpers as per the ad picture below the photo. Also, her wheels actually have hubcaps, the alloys came for 1982 as well. My friend had a 1980 notchback when we were in high school, we spent many an evening convoying around in either his 200SX or my ’79 626 Coupe. Even though the 200SX has 100hp compared to the 626’s 80hp, they were remarkably close when we chose to launch them side by side…
Thank you Jim!
And thanks for that info on the Datsun; I’ll make sure to tell her. I’m guessing it was likely an ’81 then. We were actually discussing this further last night after I showed her the post, and she recalls still having the Fiat at least briefly into the 1980s.
Nice writeup! Your mom made fine choices.
I like Mercedes and I loved my little C-class Sport Coupe Kompressor. Solid vehicles with soft, linear throttle responses and other thoughtful, driver-oriented features. The best cruise control in the industry — just one multi-direction stick, that’s it! I like that.
Way, way back in 1949, my mother won a Pontiac 4 door sedan at a raffle from old St. Patricks church in New York.Since this was the first all new postwar model, a dealer offered her 2500.00 for it,sight unseen.She didn`t have a license at the time, so she gave it to her father, my future grandfather.He got a good 10 years out of it, but I vaugely remember it other than the fact that the Indian head hood ornament lit up at night.She got her license about 8 years later. My fathers best friend was a driving instructor and gave her lessons in my father`s 1952 Cadillac. I remember going with them once. While she was backing up during a pararrel parking move,she hit the rear bumper of the Caddy on a pillar supporting the elevated subway under 86th.St. in Brooklyn, NY. The Caddy had no damge,but she took a good size chunk of concrete out of the pillar! She passed the roadtest on the first shot and was always a competent driver and remains so until today.
Very nice story, Brendan, both for the cars and for the tribute to your Mom. I enjoy reading about the people here, as well as their cars. I hope the Mercedes treats her well for years to come. It was nice that she was able to treat herself to a nice new car upon retirement.
Thanks James!
It was rewarding for me to see her be able to make a dream purchase after working hard, often taking on additional jobs and responsibilities, for so many years. She’s an tremendous role model to me in so many ways.
I’m happy to say she has no regrets in the Mercedes though, and as long as nothing major goes wrong with it, she’ll likely be holding on to it for quite a while.
Agreed on all points! As for the GLK, I especially like the 2013 and later models – the subtle changes make all the difference.
Great story Brendan. Your mother has raised a talented writer, and owned some great cars. Happy Mother’s Day.
Thanks! That’s nice of you to say.
Great write-up, and a belated Happy Mother’s Day as well! Love the GLK, of course that would be the pick of the whole bunch, but that 200SX catches my eye too–while the notchback roofline may have been more conservative, it did have a very interesting quarter-window treatment. Nice detail!
Your Mom’s purchasing style is the opposite of my Mom’s–mine has actually never bought a brand-new car. Some of that is due to financial circumstances but it’s also something she tends toward the thrifty about. She has owned (or co-owned with Dad on the later ones):
-1960 Plymouth Valiant 4-door sedan (1969)
-1972 Chevrolet Chevelle 4-door sedan (1973)
-1969 Chevrolet Impala 2-door hardtop (1976?)
-1968 Chevrolet Impala 2-door hardtop (1979)
-1979 Chevrolet Malibu 4-door sedan (1985)
-1986 Pontiac Parisienne 4-door sedan (1997)
-1997 Ford Crown Victoria 4-door sedan (2003)
-2010 Mercury Grand Marquis 4-door sedan (2012)
I like the 200SX a lot too, and although she won’t flat out say it, I think it was one of my mom’s favorites. It’s a car I wish she had held on to, as I can’t remember seeing one in person in recent years.
A couple of things. At least one of the Camry models your mom bought were probably LE’s, not DX. The LE was by far the most popular Camry model sold, and might still be. Secondly, while your family seems to have been happy trading with Herb Chambers dealerships, I found them in one instance, particularly their sales management people, to be inflexible and untruthful to me when trying to buy a car from them, and I’ve thus scratched them off my list of dealers I recommend to family and friends.